The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

Gus Fuentes is being billed $1,350 (Canadian) for being an ass onboard an Air Canada jet, before it took off from London for Toronto. His antics caused him to be kicked off the plane, and the airline sent him a bill for causing the flight to be delayed. While he vows to fight the Man and not pay, the Canadian Transportation Agency has already ruled that the airline was within its rights when it sent Gus the bill.

Reader Andrea can’t catch an break in her efforts to store electrons for her wireless telecommunications needs, and she’s looking for vengeance. Or at least a battery, and a refund for the expedited shipping she actually paid for.

Airfares aren’t exactly transparent. You’ll see an advertised fare, and then the taxes and fees get added in, and your fare has gone up by twenty to forty dollars, or more if you’re traveling abroad. It feels dirty, like dealing with a car dealership that keeps tallying extra expenses. Consider charges like the TSA security fee the aviation equivalent of floor mats and rustproofing.

Chicago’s city council drew praise from some quarters, ridicule from others, when it passed a law making foie gras, the enlarged liver of a force-fed goose or duck, illegal. Better yet, the enforcement mechanism of citizen’s arrest was reminiscent of a culinary Charles Bronson movie.

Taking the burden of the entire planet’s global warming problems onto its ample Austrian-American shoulders, the state of California filed a lawsuit today against the six major automobile manufacturers, suing them for their contributions to global warming.

If you’ve ever wondered why your credit card bills are postmarked in Utah, Delaware, Virginia, or South Dakota, and why your interest rates are higher than you think should be legal, the map above might help.

Dell, Apple, and IBM laptops have been catching fire, creating new forms of airport entertainment and providing golden material for bloggers worldwide. Today, we move beyond the Flammable Three, thanks to Toshiba. The company is recalling 340,000 laptop batteries.

Whenever anyone says that money can’t buy happiness, I immediately assume they secretly gamble and hypocritically buy up stacks of lottery tickets, hoping for that big score. They regularly use lingo like “quick pick” and “trifecta wheel.”

Frontier Airlines won’t route your call thousands of miles farther than they fly, like sending the call to the Phillippines when you’re trying to buy a ticket from Denver to Albuquerque. Among airlines, they’re an exception, as more and more companies are closing U.S.-based call centers.